


Discovering Leia

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: For Family [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family Secrets, Gen, Scents & Smells
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-07-16 08:27:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7260079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Noghri are concerned. Why had their Lord never told them of his offspring? Was he unhappy with them? One asks, bravely, and sets a new course for the Empire in doing so.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Discovering Leia

**Author's Note:**

> This one plays fast and loose with some bits of canon, works in a few of our favorite things, and owes a ridiculous amount to Tim Zahn's wonderful novels. If something doesn't match some detail of canon, it's probably on purpose.

Vorkhiron clan Bakh'tor had been honored when he and three others were chosen to go to the Lord Darth Vader's claimed homeworld, and more honored to be allowed the privilege of accompanying their Lord to the surface of the planet. It was certainly a strange world, but this was the seat of the Empire the Noghri served, and it was rare that any of them were permitted to so much as orbit it, let alone walk upon it. 

He did not know why the Lord had made the decision to bring them, but he did not question. He and the others obeyed the edict to remain unseen within the Empire's Great Dukha, but to follow their hunters' instincts and see what they heard, what currents of trouble rippled within these servants of the Empire. Their savior must have reason. 

His father's generation would not have known how to avoid the droids that were scattered through the Dukha... but he had grown to manhood knowing the pattern of them, and it was no particular difficulty to avoid them. The shadows were thick, here, and it was easy to move between them. 

The sound of a young woman's voice drew his attention -- few that he had seen so far, in the two days they had slipped through these hallways, had been young -- and he moved closer, unseen, to listen. Her words, sharp and clipped, seemed to hold nothing untoward, not to his understanding, in any case... but there was something about the scent of her that troubled him. 

Below all the false-scents that humans covered themselves with, there was something... he would follow this one. 

+++ 

The planet had been dark for many hours, full night long since fallen, when Vorkhiron clan Bakh'tor returned to the chambers of the Lord Darth Vader and prostrated himself before his Lord, hands splayed as far out as he could spread his arms, attempting to find words for his questions, for the information he brought. 

Vader looked at the Noghri for a long moment, wondering just what this one needed to tell him. The Force, often smooth and rarely rippled by his deadly servants, held agitation now. "What news do you bring me, Vorkhiron?" he asked, once he had pondered that rippling motion.

"My Lord," Vorkhiron replied, addressing the floor, "may this one ask a question of you?" 

How he had heard the young one address to the older, if he had learned Basic at all, was a lie the young one had been told... but had it been a lie their Savior wished? Or...

A question that needed permission to ask? Despite himself, this further intrigued Darth Vader. He rarely cared to be on Coruscant, but perhaps what his Noghri had found would make this stay more palatable.

"You may speak freely, my faithful one," he said, stroking the ego with that small praise, ever-mindful of keeping his Noghri bound to him, personally.

Vokhiron lifted his head somewhat, his eyes seeking up the featureless black for a moment. "Why, my Lord, have you sent none of us to guard your daughter? Have we dissatisfied you, Lord, in some way?"

The first reaction to ripple through the Sith Lord was one of shock, for those words could not apply to him. Then the anger lashed through him, and he almost turned that out on the Noghri. Yet, his Noghri could not lie, not from all he had ever seen. Their sense of smell was more evolved than even a Nautolan's, preventing them from lying to one another effectively.

What could he possibly mean? There could be no daughter to protect. His one and only love, his beautiful angel, had been pregnant, but he had killed her in his madness!

"I have no children, Vokhiron," he intoned, keeping his voice level and calm by sheer willpower. "Your clan has done nothing to displease me."

Vorkhiron blinked at the floor, still flattened to it, and allowed the relief at the last words to sink through him, before he looked up again, puzzled. "She calls another human 'father', and he says 'daughter' to her... but there is no clan-scent between them. The scent of the same dwelling, yes, but no clan-scent.

"She has your clan-scent, my Lord, more strongly even than a brother's-daughter would. The mother's clan-scent, I do not know." 

Impossible. There was no possible way for him to have a daughter. Even cloning would not produce a daughter-type being. So how could the Noghri think this?

"Does the supposed father have a name?" Vader asked, mind toying at the edges of what trickery was afoot. Could the Kaminoans use genetic material from multiple sources to craft a being? He did not know. But if his genetic material had been used by them… well, he had been intending to find a way to destroy the facilities that had created the clones for some time.

"Senator Bail Organa, my Lord," Vorkhiron answered, hearing something... more thoughtful in their Savior's voice than the cold danger there had been. How could the Lord Darth Vader not know he had... was what he had first thought true? Had this Organa stolen the Lord Vader's mate? 

Such things had happened, once, before the starving times, before their Lord had come and saved them and made lasting peace between the clans... 

Now there was a flash of anger, the fires kindling to newer heights. Bail Organa of Alderaan had been close to Padmé. And now his Noghri spoke of a child? 

Yet his Master had been explicit. He, Lord Vader, had killed his own wife, mother of his unborn child. There was a paradox in the situation he now faced.

"Until I learn the truth of this matter, see that the girl is safe," he decreed. It would keep the Noghri from being anxious about failing him… and give him time to find and look over the child before confronting her supposed father.

"Yes, my Lord," Vorkhiron agreed, nodding, relaxing a little more now that he had a command, that the daughter of his Lord was to be kept safe for him. "Shall I go now?" 

It would take one of the others, Patharakh, perhaps, to keep her safe at all times... but their Savior would know that. 

"Yes." Vader closed his eyes inside the mask, fighting the urge to just go and find Organa now. That one served a purpose yet, or so he could feel within the Force. He had long suspected the Alderaanean Senator of being in league with the Rebel Alliance, yet had not chosen the method to capitalize on that.

So he would investigate, and then make his choices on how to proceed.

Vorkhiron felt his Lord's attention leave him, and he had his command, so he rose and disappeared again. He would find Patharakh, and explain, and they would go to this daughter of their Savior. _Mal'ary'ush_ , yes. That was the title for her, that no one not of the clans would understand. 

+++ 

Two days later, the Emperor summoned him to observe the presentations of new Senators. Exactly the kind of nonsense he despised... but he would do as his Master wished. There was nothing else for him, after all. 

The first several were as boring as he could have expected, but then the herald said, "The Viceroy and former Senator of Alderaan, His Highness Bail Organa, Your Majesty." 

"My old friend needs no introduction," his Master's voice rasped, "but who is this you bring Us, Bail?" 

"My daughter, Your Majesty, Alderaan's new Senator, Leia Organa." 

Vader, already masking his emotions from having to be present, was careful to avoid betraying further interest in this one compared to the previous ones. He looked at the girl just as he had all the rest, filing away his impressions for later. 

That proved to be a difficult task, seeing her in an elegant white gown appropriate to her rank, her long dark hair in elaborate braids that were swept up, away from her slender neck. Her overall appearance was of someone born to power, but framed within responsibility.

Worse, her bearing and certain facial features bore an uncanny resemblance to Padmé. He turned his head aside one more, letting his impatience and boredom with this all come through strongly.

His Master greeted her with the same formal ritual he had used with the others, and she responded in kind. Her voice... even her voice was -- no, that thought he could not afford, and he pushed it away. He did not look back towards her again, and swiftly they disappeared, replaced with the next of the newly elected. 

Bail Organa had answers, answers that Vader desperately wanted. However, now was not the time or place. He would bide his time, as he had been doing for years, looking for his opportunities.

First, he would work on the girl. Yes, he would arrange to meet her privately, and cultivate her. Then, once he had a feeling for her, that was when he would demand his answers.

++++

Lord Vader did not like the teeming masses of people any more than they cared to be in his vicinity. He strode purposefully through the halls, his cape billowing out behind him. His Noghri had reported her typical movements, and now he was on the prowl for his quarry, not wishing to risk any electronic communications.

The last thing he wanted was for the Emperor to take notice. His Master was tied up at a meeting of the Moffs for at least the rest of the day, if not into the night. It was the perfect opportunity to get the girl alone, to find out what he could of her.

There… ahead, with a pale-haired girl of similar age. They were coming toward him, and he checked his stride just enough to appear less intimidating. This matter was to be handled carefully, with a lighter hand than he typically bothered with.

Of everyone in the Imperial City, Leia would least have expected to see the Emperor's most feared weapon out walking the halls near the hanging gardens, and for a moment, she swallowed hard. Though it had been almost three days ago, her presentation to the Emperor still lay heavy on her shoulders and her mind. She had had such intentions, had intended to ask the Emperor directly about the treatment of the non-human races here on Coruscant... but even before she had reached his presence, something had overpowered her. Something had made her afraid all the way to the core of her, and she had retreated deep inside herself long before he spoke to her. 

And just behind him, as black as the darkness that had tried to roll over her, had been Darth Vader. 

Father had said it was normal to be overwhelmed by the Emperor, had not seemed ashamed of her -- but she should have done better! -- and now, before she had fully recovered, Darth Vader was in her presence again? Why? 

She pushed all such thoughts away and made herself straighten a little more, put on a more serene mien, and step a little ahead of Winter. She might be wrong, he might have an entirely other reason for being here, but... she must appear adult, appear ready for her new position, if he was here for her. 

Oh that looked entirely too familiar to Vader, the way the child stepped up, forward of her companion. There was a similarity in their dress that nagged at him, even as he noted the tense, anticipatory observing from the pale-haired one. Bodyguard? Advisor? Both? He could not be certain. But it was the Senator he focused on, young to the honor from all he had found… and just the right age to be the very impossibility Vader knew she could not be!

"Senator Organa," he greeted, forcing his voice to remain light. He watched, listening to her with his ears, and with the Force, for how she responded to him.

"Lord Vader," she answered, not allowing any of the uneasiness she felt to show in her voice, or her posture as she dipped him exactly as much of a curtsy as his station demanded, "it is an honor to meet you." 

She felt anything but honored, she knew some of the things this man -- if man he was, behind that voder and inside the suit of armor more close-fitting than a stormtrooper's -- had done, but if she was to do any good in the Senate, no-one could suspect her true feelings. "Is there something I can do for you, my Lord?" 

She was a smooth presence in the Force, guarded, perhaps even shielded. That was interesting. He could not read anything but calmness from her. 

"I find myself intrigued, Senator, by such a young woman as yourself seeking politics so early in life. Would you be available to dine with me tonight, to better sate my curiosity on your dedication?" he offered, using the obvious excuse for his curiosity.

Padmé had not been the youngest Queen ever elected, but she had often bemoaned her youth during the Naboo Crisis. A swell of anger arose in him again; that Crisis had given his Master the point from which to tear down the Republic for once and all, to destroy everything that had once held meaning for the man Vader had been then.

Dine, with Darth Vader? She would be lucky if she could force a single morsel down her throat -- but she quite literally could not refuse. She let her eyes drop, a touch of color come up in her cheeks, as she tried to find the right words to answer. Stars bless years of schooling in courtesies, though Winter was so much better at them than she was. 

"I am certain my intended companions for dinner tonight will forgive my absence at your invitation, my Lord," she answered, "and I am flattered by the request. 

"Though... rather doubtful that I am so interesting as you seem to think." 

"The passion of youth, Senator, can be dizzying to see, if it is also married to true skill," he said to her, words that burned like liquid fire, because of how true he knew them to be, firsthand. "I look forward to seeing you this evening."

He indicated they should pass on by, while he reviewed his impressions of her. How did she keep her presence in the Force so still, so calm? 

Leia dipped her head and moved on as he bid, breathing the way Sabé had taught her, so long ago, no faster and no slower than she had been walking before they encountered each other. As soon as they reached their chambers, she would have to query the Palace majordomo and find out where Lord Vader received dinner guests, and at what hour -- but he hadn't exactly allowed her the time to ask. 

Rumor said that he could tell from rooms or even hemispheres away when someone was hiding something, was afraid or agitated... stars and saints bless, how was she to get through this? 

Somehow, it seemed to take only moments to reach their rooms.

"This could be a disaster," Winter said evenly. "Or it could be the best opportunity we can have to make you every bit on the needed power level for serving the people best," she added. She had already moved to the wardrobe to begin finding appropriate clothing for the event. "I am left wondering why, unless they have had suspicions of your father, and are seeking to place your loyalty."

"Father is a loyal servant of the people," Leia replied, well aware that the walls of Coruscant had ears, no matter how softly Winter was speaking, even as she moved to the comm unit to see to the details. "But you're certainly not the only one wondering 'why', Winter." 

"Of course your father is," Winter said with the right amount of scorn for the young aide she was. "But it is the only thing that makes sense. And you will be as strong a senator as he has been all these years." She did not like that Vader's invite had been directly at the princess, and that they did not know him well enough to play off the part where Leia insisted on her aide being present.

"I hope so," Leia answered, and meant that more than she had meant anything else so far. 

Saints and stars, let her just get through this night. 

+++ 

A small, cloaked figure met Leia as she came to the residence of the most feared Imperial Lord, guiding her in and past the security features. The figure took her all the way into a somber, sparsely decorated apartment, where a table was set with food for her, and Vader awaited.

"Senator Organa," he said. "I am pleased you have come. Join me."

She came towards the table, her eyes sweeping it, and... her first impression, that it was set only for one -- for her -- became more of a certainty, even as she choked off a response that she hadn't exactly had a choice in the matter. When Lord Vader called, any subject of the Empire who wanted to live answered. "Lord Vader," she replied to the greeting, "good evening, and thank you." 

Did he never eat, she wondered, her eyes flicking over the planes of the mask and helmet and armor. It looked almost seamless, but it surely had to open somehow, if there was a living person within the mechanical shell...

Her fingers settled on the back of the waiting chair as she reached it, intending to seat herself.

The chair pushed back, careful of her placement, to let her sit down, completely untouched by anything but the Force. 

"It is not often I have an opportunity to entertain a new Senator who makes history as you have. Quite young, and yet your resume makes it clear you have been aiming for this position. Quite ambitious." Once she was in the chair, it pushed forward, just enough to place her comfortably at her meal.

Leia had heard stories of the things Darth Vader could do for most of her life. Stories of men choking on nothing, of people thrown the length of a banquet hall without a touch, of blaster fire turned aside or back into the ones who dared attack him -- and still, nothing had prepared her for the feeling of a chair moving under her fingers as smoothly as silk, moving with her full weight in it as though it were barely touching the ground. She took a slow breath, unable to keep herself from staring at him a bit, but refusing to be shaken by it. 

They said Vader was a sorcerer, a master of ancient arts like the 'traitor' Jedi had once known... she believed that a little more, now. "I don't know that I would call it ambition, Lord Vader, so much as that I want to help others. I have the advantage of my circumstances, I feel an obligation to do what I can for those so much less fortunate." 

/And one day/, she thought to herself, very quietly,/ that is going to mean destroying this yoke of tyranny and despotism you have helped loop around the neck of the galaxy itself, my Lord./ 

Listening to her, hearing her passion, even as she remained so calm within his sense of her as a Force user… it was Padmé all over again. How much she sounded like his beloved angel, and his anger choked him for a long moment. 

"You were adopted, the records say," he managed to finally say. "Is this one reason you seek to help those less fortunate?" 

That Leia was the right age, had that passion and dedication, and kept kicking him in his weakness for a long-dead woman… his rage was growing ever stronger toward his Master. Those fires had burned hotly for years, but this new evidence of outright lies and betrayal had him on the verge of something cataclysmic. 

She felt, for a moment, as though something terrible were hovering just over her head. There was a rigid stiffness in Lord Vader's body that made her desperately want one of her weapons, even though it was almost certain to be useless against him. 

Leia blinked, startled despite his comment on her resume, that he had looked into her that closely. It wasn't a secret... but it also wasn't something the Royal House allowed much discussion of, either. "I suspect it is, yes," she agreed, nodding slightly. "I have no knowledge of who my parents were, but I can remember seeing the refugee camps on Alderaan when I was a little girl. People who had nothing left, and few chances of anything better. 

"It's obscene, with all of the resources the Empire has, that even today so many suffer in conditions not much better than I saw then." 

There was no deceit in her. Of that, he was certain, concerning her origins. That her ambition was possibly masking a plan counter to the Emperor's iron-fisted grip on life everywhere need not be said. Vader had seen it before. He'd crushed it out ruthlessly, forcing the galaxy closer to his own views that people needed to be made to do what was right.

Yet… he knew that his Master would not be satisfied until every single being was fully in his thrall. And that his Master did not actually choose the best course for anyone but himself. It was all Vader had, though.

Or did he see something new, a path that led elsewhere, in the foolish hope that this child represented?

"You will serve your people well," he finally said. "Speak to me of things you wish to focus on as you dine, Senator, and perhaps I can tell you who might best help you within the Senate." He knew she would not trust him, that the conversation would be on topics not too provocative. He could handle that… and once she was safely away from him, he had a trip to make.

"I hope only to do so," Leia replied, dipping her head for a moment, before her eyes snapped up again, finding the lenses of the mask, more than a little startled. "I -- would be grateful for any such aid," she admitted. "I don't want to simply pick up where my father has left off, with his alliances, as I know he and I do have slightly different goals in the Senate." 

Oh, this was going to be a tricky, tricky dance, but she could do it... she could, and she would. She knew she could not trust him, he was the Emperor's weapon above all else... but he did sound interested. She picked up the glass of water, not the wine, and took a drink, glancing over the table once more. "This does all look wonderful," she told him softly, before deciding which topic she was willing to discuss with him first. 

"When I find reason to make an effort, I give it everything I have." He looked evenly at her. "A trait I think you understand."

There was something edged in that, something dangerous... but she could hardly avoid agreeing. "...I believe I do, at that. I've been told I throw too much of myself at things, once or twice." 

That sounded familiar to the tiny voice struggling to be heard under the anger that fueled Vader. He damped it down, and just listened to the young woman, relying on his anger to keep him steady.

++++

Once Leia had left him, Vader took a long moment to prepare himself, and then cracked the seal on his helmet. It hurt to try and breathe without the mask, but he needed to be certain. One after another his Noghri all nodded knowingly, until Vorkhiron said what his Lord was seeking to hear.

"Clan-scent."

Vader resealed his mask, almost wishing the answer had been negative, that they had made a mistake. In the next moment, he was on his feet. He could not just demand his Master tell him the truth, and so he had to find that from some other person.

A man named Bail Organa would do nicely, and Vader stormed off to his private ship, half the Noghri following… until he assigned them all to insure the girl remained safe.


End file.
